Don’t blame Baylor; the Bears are the little fish in conference realignment waters

Picking on Baylor for the SWC breakup and for now wanting the Big 12 to stay together is like calling out a goldfish for coming along when a family moves to a new house.

Worse, much of it comes from schools that would have done just what Baylor did had they had the chance. Rats and roaches mad at the goldfish for leaving them behind? Please.

Let it go, UH fans.

Baylor had NOTHING to do with the SWC breakup, and it didn’t keep UH from joining the new conference.

And do note that when Arkansas left the conference, the breakup could have (and probably should have) happened then, but Grant Teaff fought to keep the league together. For you loudmouth youngsters who don’t know, Grant Teaff worked at Baylor.

Don't point the finger at Baylor president Ken Starr or his school for all this conference chaos. (LM Otero/AP)

So yeah, while you’re interested in being so simplistic (and inaccurate) in calling Baylor’s Ken Starr a hypocrite for pointing to tradition as part of the reason the four Texas schools in the Big 12 should stay together, try not to ignore the fact that Baylor gets credit for having kept the league together for those final few years. (I won’t even mention that Starr was investigating Whitewater when the SWC broke up and had nothing at all to do with the fallout.)

More importantly, the Big Eight didn’t want to add Houston in the first place. UT and A&M were adamant about not bringing Houston along.

Blame the Longhorns and the Aggies. They are the evil ones, who carry all the might.

The then Pac-10 wasn’t interested in Houston. Point fingers at those West Coast wusses.

The SEC told A&M that it couldn’t come alone, but if it brought another school that would be cool. But UH could not be that school. Dog those backwoods, cheating rascals if you like.

Yeah, UH blame everybody.

And rewrite history. When the SWC broke up, UH was among the least popular sports entities in this pro sports town. And everybody knew it.

Its athletic department was in shambles. And I’m talking on the fields and courts, and in attendance. Its own athletic director didn’t believe in the school’s ability to make much noise in the city.

Rudy Davalos wanted out (and considered it a promotion to take the same job at New Mexico) because he said UH was only the sixth most popular team in Houston, behind the Oilers, Astros, Rockets, Texas and Texas A&M. Heck, he even said UH was only a tad more popular than Rice, and the Owls were gaining, which to him really made UH 6.5 in popularity rank in Houston.

You thought that was a local secret? You don’t think everyone in the country recognized that?

That wasn’t Baylor’s fault.

In 1993 Kim Helton had turned John Jenkins’ mess into a worse mess, and UH averaged only 17,000 per game at the Astrodome, while Rice averaged almost 24,000 at Rice Stadium.

Baylor didn’t keep the Big 12 from adding Houston. It simply took the last seat on the bus, to save itself and in doing so, it stayed with two schools that it had long rivalries with as original SWC members.

Only four SWC charter members were in the league when it was obvious that it was about to crumble. The only one not invited to join the Big 12 was Rice, and if you need an explanation as to why Rice wasn’t welcomed into the new conference, you need more help than I can give you.

What’s so wrong with Baylor wanting to stick with its oldest rival Texas A&M? After all, the first football loss in Baylor history was to A&M (33-0 in 1899). That’s tradition.

Did Baylor turn its back on TCU, SMU and UH? Yeah, the same way the goldfish turned its back on the rats and cockroaches that weren’t brought along on the family move.

The rats and cockroaches wouldn’t have given a darn about the goldfish had it been flushed down the toilet. But the point is neither rats, cockroaches nor goldfish had enough power to bring along any of the others when the family moved.

So what if Baylor hadn’t been sitting in a little protective bowl (it had some political clout) it never would have been brought along? Big whoop.

What does that have to do with what is going on now?

This is all about the Orangebloods and Aggies. Always had been and always will be.

In this Big 12 divorce, now that the kids have left and gone off to college, you think either parent is going to give a darn about the poor little goldfish?

It was their school presidents who came together and basically threatened the other members of the SWC in 1990 (when Arkansas left); telling them to shape up or they were shipping out.

Can you blame the goldfish for trying to keep divorcing parents together?

It worked in 1990. It failed in 1994, so the goldfish did the next best thing. It went to the new house instead of the toilet.

But let some of you tell it, Baylor, the cute little green-and-goldfish, is a killer whale. Gimme a break.

The (Sour)Grapes of Wrath had led Oklahoma to journey West once again. In Dubious Battle Beebe has led a conference Of Mice and Men through The Long Valley, unfortunately for him it will lead to Cannery Row. I am grateful that he and the conference leaders did not pursue The Harvest (of) Gypsies to keep the conference from going down the toilette with The Log of The Sea of Cortez (A&M). I am convinced that The Pearl (KU) will make it to The Pastures of Heaven and To a God Unknown. Steinbeck saw it all happening many years ago.

Has anyone else noticed that Christian and other religious universities like Baylor are the ones largely left out in the re-shuffle? And then are blamed for trying to “tag along with the big boys for the gravy train”? The implication is that Baylor and similar schools are looking for welfare from the larger public universities. I challenge this notion.

A&M and other state schools are the WELFARE schools. YOUR state’s taxes fund these public universities. They wouldn’t survive in their current form without gravy from their state. With the gravy, these universities get big and powerful and mandate little room at the academic table for Christian presupposition.

As a result, Christian, Catholic and other religious school have been born and must survive privately. They have done remarkable well considering they are NOT WELFARE schools to the magnitude of universities like Texas and A&M.

Now realignment talks are threatening to marginalize Baylor and other religious universities (many are in the Big East). Many public universities like CAL have even overtly said they will not be affiliated with Baylor because of its religious positioning.

So, a nation whose majority is Christian, and especially in a state like Texas, is forced to subsidize the marginalization of the Christian perspective in academia.

Why are we as Christians and citizens agreeing to fund a disadvantage to our own predominant worldview? There has to be a way to make this a more even playing field.

Many of you are thinking: what does this have to do with football? And that is because you do not understand that football affiliation drives academic affiliation, sadly. The university presidents know this is not just about football. Oklahoma is not considering the PAC because of its football program.

Of course, Baylor and other religious schools will not just go away. However, the secular schools will become more and more relevant and the Christian and religious ones will become less and less relevant by being left out of elite 4-division, 64-school super-conferences.

Ha. No conspiracies. It is just the natural consequence of artificially funding one set of schools and not another. Of course, UT and A&M are big. They are WELFARE schools.

In our current economy, there could be sentiment for reduced funding of public institutions. I would certainly propose it is best for true free market approach to higher education. Then we would see who the real goldfish were.

Facts and truth. I have yet to see any claims that Baylor caused the SWC breakup. Funny that anybody would think Baylor had that power.

Point always being made is the hypocrisy in their claim that A&M is ignoring long existant rivalries when Baylor never made those claims when they left 4 Texas schools behind in 1996.

Please, somebody post what Baylor and Ken Starr actually think they can achieve by their threat of law suit? What is their end goal? Do they actually think A&M will all of the sudden will change their minds and stay in the Big 12?

Baylor is only making any possible move to a conference of any type merit extremely difficult.

“We are Baylor, we are a bunch of lawyers and politicians!” Two such loved and respected professions in our society.

We’re not blaming Baylor. We all know tu took the $$ without regard for anyone else, or the future ramifications. The ‘attacks’ on Baylor started when Ken Starr declined to sign the waiver to not sue A&M or the SEC, and is doing to so because A&M is breaking the contract with FOX by leaving the Bix XII-II-II (when OSU and OU leave next week).

A&M never signed the TV contract – Big XII, Inc. handled that one. And Dan Beebe, in a letter to the SEC, stated that the Big XII and its member institutions would not interfere with A&M’s departure to the SEC. For Ken Starr to not sign the waiver is in complete contradiction with Beebe’s letter to the SEC. He can’t have it both ways.

Again, an Aggy is having trouble with the truth. The above comment says, “For Ken Starr to not sign the waiver is in complete contradiction with Beebe’s letter to the SEC.” Beebe clarified from day 1 that is his letter spoke for the Big 12 as an entity only and not for the individual schools.

The Big 12 wanted TCU but Baylor stole their spot. Baylor is a joke and your not far behind. The puke green gang is just delaying the inevitable. WAC, CUSA or MWC is their destination. Embrace it, Love it, it is your destiny.

Maybe the frogs should learn from the success Baylor has had in state government and graduate some people that are smart or powerful enough to help TCU: not Baylor’s fault that their graduates can do more to help their school than frogs can.

If I were still at Baylor, I wouldn’t be heading to B/CS for the game. Based on the comments coming from a lot of Aggies on discussion boards and comment sections like this one all over the internet, I’m pretty certain Baylor fans will not be greeted nicely.

I went to graduate school at A&M and my pastor is an Aggie, so I know from experience they can be good people. Unfortunately, this issue is bringing out the bad ones.

The thing you are skipping over is that Baylor took UH seat in the Big 12, by political corruption. The state officials should have supported a state school over a private school (private enterprise is supposed to be able to succeed or fail without government intervention).

Yes, the Big Eight didn’t want Houston, but they also didn’t want Baylor… Baylor just had more politicians on the payroll.

Thank you! Finally. A journalist that still reports with facts, not bias and hatred (or auditioning for covering A&M in the SEC). Any argument that Baylor was responsible for the SWC breakup is pure ignorance. But I suppose anyone born after 1989 would believe this – unless someone like Mr. Solomon calls it out.

And by the way: Grant Teaff, and Baylor’s football program at the time, had more to do with putting it in the Big 12 than anyone in the Legislature.

I fell out of my chair after reading this. A column that has some balance and written by a columnist who actually did some research instead of cut and paste what he reads on a blog? Amazing.

Baylor’s record as the SWC broke up was very similar to ATM and UT. Grant Teaff could beat Texas consistently. One of the best games in the SWC was Baylor-ATM in 1984 or 85.

Baylor’s attendance, home and away, compared to Rice, UH, TCU, et al wasn’t even close in those days.

Granted, Baylor made terrible decisions and tried to do it on the cheap when it got to the Big 12, but they’ve been correcting that.

Baylor was the first college in the state of Texas. First. That shouldn’t get them anything, but it is part of the tradition Ken Starr is talking about.

To say its basketball programs, baseball, and yes, even football don’t belong in an AQ conference is laughable at best and based on the Baylor of the late 90s and early 2000s.

Kick them while they are down if that is your perception, but I guarantee the schools leaving the Big 12 will be afraid to schedule Baylor in any non-conference games in the future. Its men’s basketball program looks to be far better than the team that made it to the elite 8 two years ago. They have a Heisman caliber QB and plenty of depth at that position already.

Southwestern has never closed it’s doors!!! Southwestern formed by a merger of four institutions in 1872, Rutersville College whose original Charter was 1840 is where Southwestern takes it’s founding from. Therefore making it the OLDEST COLLEGE IN TEXAS!!!! Baylor can only claim oldest only by continuously operating under it’s original charter.

But just like this whole issue with the Big XII, Baylor will reap what it has sowed! This all has come down to the fact that Baylor is not a marketable school and no BCS AQ Conference will take them for attempting to let any school better themselves. Ding Dong the Big XII is dead!!!

You give Baylor too much credit by calling them a goldfish. They are just one of the roaches but they happened to crawl in the box on the way out. Had Baylor gotten stuck in the SWAC or CUSA they’d be in the same boat as Rice, UH and the rest clawing to try to get scraps that fall off the big boys table. I don’t blame Baylor one bit for fighting tooth and nail to try and hold on to the little that they have because they aren’t a glamour program that will have the better conferences banging down their door.

Seriously the whole thing is kind of pathetic, it is all about money and the kids and education can take a backseat, as always. The rich are simply getting richer and if you were in the welfare line before you are being downgraded to the soup kitchen. TCU was smart to see the writing on the wall and latch on to a conference when the opportunity presented itself. The Big 12 was stupid not to make the push for them when they had a chance because now instead of being the raiders they are being raided. As the super conferences start to really come into form those smaller schools will really have no shot at a title. If you are in a stacked conference there is no need for a strong out of conference schedule and the Boise’s will be left out in the cold eventually if they don’t find a way to hop onto a chair before the music stops. So if I’m Baylor I hold on to that thing for as long as I can.

Taking TCU, while fun for the fans, would do little more than further divide up the current income. On an undefeated Rose bowl season in 2010 they averaged a mere two thousand more fans over the season then did a 7-6 Baylor team. They do not bring in the only thing that matters, the only thing that holds Baylor back, more butts in seat/views.

In TCU’s defense, Baylor got the advantage of playing both Texas A & M and Oklahoma at home last year – (they didn’t even sell out the OU game). TCU doesn’t get the auto sellout of a UT or A&M every year – they would get the same benefit that Baylor does by being in a better conference.

Coogs don’t blame Baylor but just find it funny that they’re about to be in same position as UH and they’re fighting it every step of the way, as they should. Baylor hasn’t played UH much at all since they got the BCS bump, thanks to Ann Richards, and if UH had BU’s BCS $$ is there any doubt we’d be at least as strong as Tech? But still located in a metro market with much better access to recruiting?

As a UH grad….UH got totally caught with their pants down by the SWC breakup. It is not Baylor’s fault that UH got hosed – it was every man for himself, and UH blew it. TU and A&M wanted no competition in the Houston or Dallas market – hence also-ran Texas Tech gets in over TCU, SMU, UH, and even Rice. SMU was probably more connected than Baylor, but the death penalty thing made the Baptists a safer choice. Oh well – it’s all falling apart now anyway.

Columnists like Jerome Solomon are why newspapers are dying. I really wish that I could read something insightful. Instead here’s Jerome Solomon, who will always defend the little guy, and never have a real opinion about something. Real journalism is seeing things from an angle no one else can see, not seeing things from the minority’s perspective.

We get it, Baylor doesn’t have anything else to offer so if we walk a mile in their shoes, they are doing what they have to do. Yawn.

It is sad that a journalist in Houston could be so negative about the local college team. Is there a reason you continue to attack UH? How is it you say Baylor had no ability to effect the SWC break up but you follow it by saying Teaff kept the league together. Which is it? Its a fact that Ann Richards forced Baylor in.

Regardless, UH is on the verge of having a great season. Think you could write about that? Or maybe about the merits of adding the team from your own city to a major conference? Oh wait, that would be positive for UH. Sorry I forgot you don’t do the “balanced reporting” thing.

Ann Richards had nothing to do with it. She was told what was going on, but she didn’t influence anything. Others in the Leg might have used her influence, but Richards was not a huge Baylor supporter.

Baylor is drawing ire here largely because of their duplicitous PR campaign. No one with a reasonable mind could really believe their primary intentions are to preserve the sanctity of Texas football and especially the collegiate football system rather than to keep getting a welfare check from the B12. Baylor didn’t seem too concerned with the welfare of the current system nor their student athletes when they were trying to use political connections to kick Colorado out of the PAC deal and take their spot. I also don’t think anyone for a second believes this would be an issue if they had been invited to join TAMU in the SEC as team number 14. If Starr just came out and said “It’s my job to protect the interests of this university by any means necessary” the backlash would not be as fierce as it has been.

Another falsehood: Baylor never thought it could take Colorado’s spot. You have to be kidding me. With all of the overt anti-religious bigotry coming from the mouths of PAC-10 schools like CAL, we are under no delusion that Baylor is welcome in the PAC-10.

Mr Solomon speaks the truth unlike his colleague, Richard Justice, who must be running for mayor of College Station.

Coog fans, Frog fans, Bear fans, Raider fans, whomever fans– UT and A&M drive the bus in this state. They always have they always will. If they want you in the club, you’re in. If they don’t, you’re left at the bus stop. Pretty simple to figure out.

Sorry my friend but your article is littered with inaccuracies. Just because you may be tired of UH fans bringing this up does not make it untruthful. Uh absolutely had a chance to go to the SEC with the aggies originally. The state put a lot of pressure on them and threatened to restrcit monies if they broke from ut. They caved and messed up a good deal for bot schools. The a certain politician, other than Ann Richards, brokered a deal at the last moment to have baylor included with the group when they had never even been considered and yes Houston would have been taken ahead of baylor and TT if not for certain politicains, Bob Bullock being one of them, had it not been for 11th hour under the table deals. And you are right, any conference the ags are in at this point it makes it unlikely UH will be considered. They have fought hard to make sure we will not be included in any deals that involved their conference. The last thing they want to see is Houston on even grounds. As for ut they are hit and miss. Many of them remember when they added us into the SWC thinking they coukd control Houston only to see Houston win the SWC title 4 of the first 5 years. However they generally are too arrogant to think anyone can stand in their way and really don’t care if we are in the same conference or not, but again, due to political pressures TT will go where they go, and without that no one would want them. TT is a Mike Leach hire away from being baylor right now. Now these are the facts and they cannot be discouted sir, so please stop with all this UH should not blame so and so and needs to forget about the past. The fact is Houston has had to deal with the past every season since the SWC broke up so yeah it is still fresh in the minds of most Cougars on how they got screwed. No one cares any more about BU back then than they do now.
Now I am sure, if you even read this, that you will laugh this off and think how great it is you are getting so many hits on your blog. Lazy journalism is for those who ahve to attack another group and print your perceived facts rather than finding out the real trutth in order to generate interest in your article.Now why don’t you move on!

I should have stopped reading after your blatantly FALSE assertion that UH had a chance to go to the SEC with A&M. Was that a typo? That’s not even rewriting history, that’s making stuff up. Was ET the quarterback at UH at the time too?

Where the heck did that come from? I’m sure there are a handful of Houston fans that want to blame Baylor for being left out of the B-12 but that is a tiny minority. Most Houston fans I know don’t blame Baylor one bit for the SWC break-up, and don’t blame them for taking advantage of an opportunity presented.

However what EVERYBODY is saying, not just UH fans is that Baylor needs to grow a pair and stop whining like children who have had their ice-cream taken away. Act like grown-ups, take your medicine, life isn’t fair…. get used to it. Act like the SWC teams left behind… pull up your boot straps and get to work. Stop being a Texas and Texas A&M welfare queen.

All this boo hooing about lost rivalries is lost on all of left behind when it took Baylor EIGHT YEARS to schedule any former SWC opponents after they whipped us off their feet. Their longest standing rival, prior to the SWC was TCU, they played just about every year since 1899, but after the SWC broke up it took Baylor 11 years to schedule a game with THAT long term rival. Houston is still waiting for a chance to play Baylor…. yet Baylor keeps on dodging us.

Funny actually how it is aggy avoiding playing the old SWC foes. But you keep on making up those lies. As far as claiming we are whining, well, get over it. Aggy’s destruction of the Big 12 will cost Baylor hundreds of millions over the next few years. I highly doubt if you lost $20 the people around you would ever hear the end of it, especially if they were the ones who threw your wallet away.

The situation this time is vastly different frrom 1996. In 1996, you didn’t have a contract for television revenue that guaranteed the school’s $150 million over ten years. If you had, UH, Rice, SMU and TCU would have had legal leverage to save that contract. Several Big XII schools have relied on that income for funding capital projects. Iowa State has already issued bonds against it.

Baylor is right to retain its future legal rights. Texas A&M is free to go anytime the SEC wants to let them in.

Yeah times have changed because we’re talking about the breakup of the Big12 happening right now, and not the SWC. Justifying keeping the league together for some sort of Texas allegiance and old rivalries doesn’t really cut it since as another poster commented above those rivalries were dead and gone 15 years ago. As far as costing Baylor money, boo hoo. Baylor has to do what’s good for Baylor just like all of the other schools are doing. I stand by what I said about the landscape, whether right or wrong big money is trumping all else.

Where have I lied about anything? Sure the Aggies haven’t scheduled UH either, but the difference is A&M isn’t whining about lost rivalries. The Aggies didn’t care about the programs they left behind and no one is expecting them too. The truth is Baylor didn’t really care either, otherwise they would have tried to schedule some games in the OOC line up, right off the bat…. instead they waited 8 years. Baylor has played TCU in more games than any other opponent. Yet after the SWC broke up there was an 11 year gap, and you know what? Even with that gap Baylor has still played more games against TCU than any of the other teams currently in the B-12. Where was all the concern about lost rivalries and tradition immediately after the SWC disintegration?

I like Baylor, I always have. I remember well that Baylor was one of our principle advocates for UH in the SWC. I don’t harbor any ill will to Baylor, but Ken Starr is making you guys look like a bunch of hypocrites. Just man up and admit that Baylor is worried about getting kicked off the gravy train, because all this emotional appeal of lost rivalries rings hollow.

Speaking of Texas and Texas A&M welfare, would you be half of what Baylor is without the welfare from my state’s taxes?

I think I would like to do something about that. Why should Texas revenues go like welfare to Texas and A&M anyways? You want a fair, free market system? You want schools to man up and do it without the gravy train?

Then you won’t be opposed to turning off the money spigot from Texas state coffers, right????

If you think the Horns are not involved with Baylor’s refusal to waive litigation, you don’t know the Horns very well. They have enough bad pr from the flopping LHN and are happy to have BU do their bidding for them.

An interesting thing in this realignment stuff is that aggy, as a whole, seems more interested in the Big XII disolving than they are excited about going to the SEC. To most non wool-fettished humans, that’s kinda weird.

This is patently false. I don’t know of any Aggies that are actually excited about the Big 12 breaking up, they are only focused on us getting out the door.

Truth be told, the vast majority of Aggies want the Big12 to stay together (at least for the time being) because that gives us cover to get out the door without being used as a scapegoat for the whole thing.

What is your problem? Why do you dislike UH so much? Are you not a Houston journalist? Seriously, you continue to spew this venom instead of throwing a little bit of support our way every once in awhile. Honestly, I think what you’re doing is pathetic. Support the home-town school. For once in your life.

You seem to believe that my wanting UH to be among the big-time schools, wanting it to win every game, wanting it to grab the big-time recruits and prove it belongs with the big boys, and always wanting it to beat anybody in its path should make me want to make up stuff, ignore facts and hate everything that isn’t Cougar Red. UH’s problems are in many ways self-inflicted. I’ve dogged Baylor over the years for its self-inflicted issues as well. It does UH no good to try to bring Baylor down.

Thanks for writing this article King Solomon! I appreciate your view and more so “telling it like it is.” Yes, I am a Baylor grad, and the way Baylor has been slandered recently just makes me sick…people act like they’re some big time villains. What, they don’t have a right to look out for their best interest too?? I was pretty disappointed with RJ’s article yesterday…I appreciate your rebuttal. Have a great day man.

Solomon and facts, that’s an oxymoron if I’ve ever heard one. When did UH fan ever blame BU for breaking up the SWC? That’s the premise of your article but you’re the one introducing the premise. Did you not read Richard Justice’s blog yesterday?

Jerome, your’e right about Rudy Davalos and the state of UH’s program at the time the SWC broke up.

However, your “facts” downplaying Baylor using Ann Richard’s influence on the other 3 state schools forcing Baylor into the Big 8’s are pure revisionism, based on conversations I have had with several folks very engaged at the time.

Cite sources and facts if you want anyone except Waco folks to buy into that story.

I feel for Bayor- it is a very good school and has some of the best educators in the USA. I can understand the fear and real possibility of having to move down in conferences to one more in line with the size of the school. While it may hurt a little at first in the long run it may be a better situation for football fans of the bears.
I think Baylor has taken a lot of stuff recently from the hypocrisy of the dont mess with Texas football deal and also for giving consent to A&, then when OK said they were going to retract it and threaten a lawsuit.
The conservative stooping to threats of lawsuits- and a lawsuit with out much merit or historical basis- i might add. So yes- Baylor a good if not great school – looks bad to many right now.
They may have delayed A&M but it will not stop A&M. No one faults the goldfish from trying to keep the conference together-EXCEPT for HOW THEY HAVE DONE SO!

“Size of the school”? Baylor has more students than the likes of Duke, Vanderbilt, and Notre Dame. By your logic, HCC and the University of Phoenix should be in the SEC. UCF, USF, and Strayer in the Big Ten. Sheesh.

Why did A&M enter a contract if it had no intention of honoring it? Baylor is not the bad guy for saying, “hey, you have a contract with us and we would like you to honor it.” Baylor isn’t the bad guy for standing on its contract. A&M is the one who wants to break it. You can’t blame Baylor for wanting A&M to honor its contract. Duh. Get angry with your president for signing it just a year ago. Come on.

Solomon is right, blaming Baylor makes no sense. I’m a graduate of both UH and SMU and recognize that neither of those schools deserved to be in the Big 12. SMU was on life support after the death penalty and UH was 1-10 in the 2 years leading up to the conference formation. TCU wasn’t much better with an average of 3 wins per year over the previous decade or so. There’s not much to say about Rice. Baylor in contrast had the 4th best conference record leading up to the formation of the Big 12. Maybe they didn’t deserve their spot. Maybe the Big 8 didn’t want them. But they won by default.

Baylor didn’t leave anyone behind. Others (the conference killers UT and A$M) made the decision to split the SWC, not Baylor. When the SWC fell apart, Baylor was in the position to choose tradition with UT/A$M/TT or tradition with SMU/TCU/UH/Rice. For Baylor to have been a hypocrite regarding tradition, it would have had to choose membership with a conference with which it had no tradition at all. BU did not do that. But, once the split happened, we did have to pick a group to join. Just because your self interest aligns with a greater good, doesn’t nullify the validity of the greater good. Even if Baylor ends up in another AQ conference, ala Big East, ACC, reconfigured B12, etc, the only victory will have been for BU’s self interest. The greater good will have been lost.

#19 ranked football team
#9 ranked pre-season men’s basketball team
#1 ranked pre-season women’s basketball team
Great academics
A president who actually understands that a signed contract is just that: a signed contract that has explicit exit fee penalties.

Baylor is 4th behind aggy in total Big12-2-1 conference championships, 35th in the director’s cup last year, and the only team in the nation with a top 20 ranked football team and both men’s and women’s basketball ranked in the top 10. You’re right, Baylor contributes nothing.

I’m sorry, when you have 25 tennis championships, you shouldn’t try to compare that to other championships. You don’t see A&M trotting out equestrian championships. Well, I guess technically they do TROT out but we don’t flash em all over the place included in our totals.

As a UH Grad and one who lived through the nightmare of the SWC breakup I can personally attest to what happened. In the first place UT and A&M were afarid if Houston came along their recruiting and their exposure would lead to consequences they didn’t want to endure. Sure Houston was coming off some lean years after probation and so was SMU both of which beat UT and A&M like a drum. I’ll give you two guesses who turned them in in the first place. It was UT because of their arrogance and their jealosy of getting beat. That coupled with ANN Richards and BOb Bullock armtwisting the legislature to keep UH and TCU out so that they could come abard. I , with my own ears heard AnnRichards say that if UH got in over Baylor that she personally would veto some very important pieces of legislature at that time. It was a combination of factors that kept UH, and TCU out.

By the way Sololmon, you are quite innacurrate about the COogs and Aggies being part of a package deal going to the SEC. That was absolute fact. If you don’t believe it check with the SEC, I think they probably still have records. It was UT and their political pull that kept that deal from happening. I strongly suggest you check your facts before putting out such a venemous article.

Furthermore, you should be ashamed of yourself for running down the home town team, perhaps you need to move to Waco.

I love it how people make up facts that don’t exist and figure if they say it enough others will believe them. so you are either one of the people who are making them up or one of those who believe them. Either way, you’re wrong. And there are no records. A&M was never invited to join the SEC. There is simply the people involved in the A&M-SEC discussion back then. I’ll take their word over yours, regardless of whether you made it up or believe what was made up. … And again, it is not running down the home team to report the truth. That doesn’t mean UH wouldn’t have been better in the Big 12 than Baylor, just that it wasn’t Baylor’s fault that UH wasn’t invited. I don’t know how I can be more clear on this.

Oh come on, work with me here. I called Pac-10 schools wusses, SEC schools cheating scoundrels and UT and A&M evil. Plus, who would you pick in a fight, a rat, a cockroach or a goldfish? Clearly Baylor would lose that match. Please, stop.

Whoa there mighty king Solomon don’t back track so quickly you may trip over yourself! By the way I don’t think you answered Really???’s question and none of those schools or conferences have anything to do with the hometown team…so you were saying? UH = rats and cockroaches?

Ok, you are a professional writer, I’m sure you can come up with the words to explain how using an analogy to compare UH and Rice to rats and/or cockroaches is not running down the local universities. Just looking for the answer as to how that is not derogatory or running down local universities, thats all. And please link me to a blog post (that you have written) that is centered around anything positive concerning UH or Rice.

You have lost me. Again, were talking about mythical animals in a house who have no control over what happens in the house. I don’t think any of the terms are offensive in the contesxt in which they are used, unless you are looking to be offended. To me, goldfish, rats and roaches are all the same. Would you feel better if I had said hamsters and ants in the kids’ ant farm, or turtles and pet rabbits, instead of rats and roaches? To me there is no difference. The point isn’t that somebody is a rat, roach or goldfish. Understand now? … Jeez. Despite how long I have done this, it still amazes me that some people are so bothered by the truth. That they would rather read cheerleading drivel. I give pats on the back when deserved and call people on the carpet when it is deserved. I have no agendas. I don’t believe in positive and negative stories, just stories, because the truth is the truth, but if you are looking for something “positive” from me about UH, how about the first real blog post I ever wrote in this space? You are not a rat or roach, and I have written “positive” things about UH. Feel better now?

It is not that UH fans (and most others) are “hating” on Baylor so much as calling them out for their unabashed hypocricy in claiming that their actions now are (or ever were) motivated by preserving the sanctity of Texas football traditional rivalries, as opposed to simply acting in their own best interests.

I (and most others) get it that the “goldfish” took whatever path was in their best interest when the SWC dissolved. As you correctly point out, I am certain others would have done the same.

But please recognize (as others do) that this “best interest” outweighed protecting old rivalries back then, most of which were unceremoniously dumped without so much as a second thought (many to this very day, over 16 years after the fact). And if Baylor is given a ticket to another BCS conference, its “best interest” will again outweigh concern for Texas football again.

Accordingly, it is not “hating” Baylor to point this out, even if it is done with a good deal of emotion by those who feel strongly about it.

Perhaps, if Baylor had reached out to UH, SMU, TCU and Rice to join in this new-found concern for “Texas football,” many would have considered “letting it go.” But as it stands, it reeks of hypocricy.

wrong,
arkansas left the SWC because they knew texas wanted out. texas. a&m and arkansas were invited to the SEC, and at the last minute texas backed out. the texas legislators would not let texas and a&m split up, the aggies going by themselves was a moot point.
baylor had nothing to do in keeping the swc together, they were irrelevent until ann richards came along.
my gripe with baylor is that they have done nothing to improve their sports operation, instead they have used the big 12.

Everyone involved then says Teaff’s campaigning kept the conference alive. A&M leaving by itself wasn’t a moot point a few years later when the SWC was still falling apart, the SWC TV contract was no good, and Texas and Tech were considering a move to the Pac-10. A&M checked with the SEC, which told the Aggies they needed to need to bring another school. A&M suggested UH and SMU, and was basically laughed off the phone. The Big 12 deal came up around the same time and was the smarted move for all concerned, except for, obviously, the four leftovers.

Solomon–you may want to check the SEC bylaws with anectodal evidence, SEC expansion does not allow 2 teams admitted from the same state at the same time. Is true now (unless they change the bylaws) and was true then. That’s why ARK was admitted with SCarolina

Baylor is surely not to blame for the SWC breaking up, and today is desperately trying to preserve a seat with the big boys by keeping the Big XII intact. What is hard to understand is the ill-advised way of going about it…threatening litigation to coerce A&M to stay. If they are acting on principle, they should have threatened litigation when Nebraska and Colorado left. I wish they would let go and start working on plans to find a new home, IF the Big XII indeed busts up. About half my family went to A&M and the other half to Baylor (I am an Aggie, my wife a Baylor AND Aggie), so I just hate seeing such a debacle tarnish both schools.

It is not shameful to appeal to the emotions of your base to get them fired up for your cause, that’s what PR and marketing departments are for. What is shameful is to suggest other people or groups are actively engaging in the violent act of “hostage taking” in order to force them to stay. Even more so when he knows perfectly well that the goal of the other schools is not trying to “coerce” them to stay in the conference for the next 10 years, but to slow this whole process down in order to keep it from completely spinning out of control as well as giving the much needed time to establish contingency plans should the Big12 fold. I am sure there is no doubt in the mind of the non-waiving institutions that aggy will not be around next year. Loftin needs to act like the president of an esteemed institution of higher learning instead of popping off at the mouth acting like Jimmy Hoffa Jr. If anything, aggy needs to be annoyed at the SEC for giving every single school in the Big12 the power of veto.

Jerome – your responses are the best part of this blog! I’m an old Aggie with mixed feelings about going to the SEC and I thought that your article was interesting. Hey, I usually like Richard’s too! But you’ve got him on the responses!!

“A&M checked with the SEC, which told the Aggies they needed to need to bring another school. A&M suggested UH and SMU, and was basically laughed off the phone.”

It was UT and their political pull that kept that deal from happening. I strongly suggest you check your facts.

Solomon this is inaccurate. Where are your sources…Ken Starr,,DeLoss Dodds? You are the one making things up and doing what you accused me of in your earlirer post. The difference is I was there and lived through that era. You probably weren’t even born yet.

Methinks you are allowing my good looks to influence your opinion of my age. Gracias. As for sources, would the person who made the call to the SEC for A&M be a good enough source? Man, Perry Mason (yeah, I am old enough to remember him) and Johnny Cochran (was around then too, obviously) would have a field day with you on the witness stand. This is like a rat vs. goldfish fight. Yes, in that example, I am the rat. Beats being called the roach, though, I guess.

Excellent column Mr. “King” Solomon. Unlike certain other columnists you have a firm grasp of history and how the (sad) breakup of the Southwest Conference occurred. Thank you for setting the facts straight, in the face of maroon and white revisionism.

As a Cougar, the truth hurts.. Being involved in the athletic dept at the end of the Dimel era and the beginning of the Briles I can attest to the wreck UH was still in at that time (improved but still ugly). Thank the lord for Dave Maggert (sp?) I can’t ever remember how to spell his name, it’s been a while since I even said it.. He cleaned it up and now w/ Rhodes we’re on a good track. But back then, with all the bad blood, and horrible scandals, i don’t blame anyone for not taking us as much as I wish i could blame the Horns and Ags.. It was our own doing that became our undoing ( for what we DID have).. But can we not get some love now? As a athletic dept on the up-swing, do we not deserve a shot a bigger things? or should be just sit down and never aspire to be more than C-USA players?

Oh, UH is on the right track and has trmendous potential. I was a huge Maggard fan and think Rhoades is doig a great job. No doubt that UH deserves to be in a BCS level conference. ALl it took was competence and commitment, and I think the school now has that.

Who knows what the truth really is…Churchill once said that the truth lies somewhere amist a bodyguard of lies.

We must find a way forward regardless of what happened in the past. The past is dead and gone and all of these arguments are meaningless.

The fact is if the State of Texas is going to lose a viable football conference because of greed and jealousy. It would appear to me that everybody step back and see how we can salvage the situation. The fans are the ones are going to be hurt the worst., not being able to trravel to their teams games because of expense and distance. The state of Texas is going to lose an immense amount of revenue. The arrogance and greed by everybody needs to stop and if that happens I think there may be a workable solution.

I’m not saying forget about what happened in the past, but rather learn from it.

Richard Justice pointed out that K* was being a hypocrite in his “lets save traditions/rivalries” stance. He was right on. Also to keep things fully accurate remember that Baylor not Texas, A&M, or Tech were the first to join the Big XII. There was no effort to save the others like Smu, Tcu, or Uh or traditions by Baylor. Theres an article from that period from the chronicle no less that says as much. Im not sayin theyre to blame for the current situation, but they need to quit playin like theyre a victim. I think Texas is more to blame than anyone for the whole situation, but baylor needs to deal with the situation just like Smu, Tcu, and Uh did.

Amazing that in the current situatin so much time is wasted on whether or not Baylor broke up the SWC or didn’t deserved a spot and someone else did. Let it go! That problem is history. Think what you will about that problem, but it doesn’t change a thing.
The problem today is the Big XII falling apart and instate rivalries dissolveing which equates to money.
Solomon is just trying to put history in some sort of accurate order so simple people can understand. I think he did a reasonable job. Plus, last time I looked there were more than just Baylor that refuse to waive their rights to legal recourse.
We are in this problem TODAY for 3 reasons:
1. UT’s love of their beloved LHN which no one wants to watch
2. A$M;s inferiority complex with UT thinking they can run off to anohter conference and then they can finally be out from under UT’s shadow. NOT! Sorry, for the next several years there will be many more stories about UT on ESPN than A$M stories
and finally…
3. Just when the cats were almost put back in bag with A$M leaving (with blessings from most of the rest of the BIG XII) and a replacement team ready to step in to replace them, Boren of OU opened his big mouth.

No matter how many times you try to explain it, the Aggies just don’t get it. No one has been sued…..they just might be.
Thanks Mr. Solomon for trying to inject some facts into the debate. That must be really frustrating for many.

This is a squabble amongst losers. Teams are leaving the Big X in the following order:
A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas.

The best hope for Baylor or UH is within a reconstituted Big 12.

In this era, media markets are everything. This probably means Baylor will not be invited by any conference.

If the Big12 folds, the Big East will invite several teams from it. Baylor neither has the media market nor are they in the same proximity as the others.

If the teams leave the Big12 as indicated above, the conference should survive by inviting several teams, including UH, SMU, Rice, Air Force, and Tulsa. Its not the SEC, but it is at least as good as the Big East, so it has a chance at keeping the BCS standing.

All you people are wasting time! It is UT that is the beast of all bad news! Instead of sticking with the Texas teams, it only cares about it’s self. You people need vision! If Texas was smart it would realize the Texas schools have better programs combined than the other conference’s and will get there as a group! Oh no we have to fight with each other, instead of pooling together. All you guys are a bunch of Idiots!

Your article is so full of lies it’s hard to even address it all. Did you do ANY research for this drivel? And suddenly, to find out that you are a Baylor grad, the consistent poor quality of your work is more understandable. If you don’t want to see the truth, keep trying to defend “the little guy.” That “little guy” that has had every BCS advantage, but still managed to suck for 15 years. The “little guy” that used political maneuvering combined with its acceptance of its role of UT doormat to force out UH, TCU, SMU and Rice. Little guy my @$$.

It is unconscionable that the sports columnist in the HOUSTON paper refuses to accurately cover a HOUSTON story, taking the side of his alma mater to the detriment of the HOUSTON university.

Calling UH and Rice “rats and cockroaches” is especially reprehensible in light of the old racist SWC attacks thrown at UH, labeling them “cockroaches” that only stop to “eat at 7-11″ and “rob things.”

Labelling Baylor as innocent as a goldfish is about as accurate as Tarik Aziz’s comments that “no American soldiers were then in Iraq.”

To see Baylor’s complicity in the whole fiasco, we can look to the Houston Chronicle’s 1994 coverage of Baylor’s snaking of the last Big 12 spot: “When it became apparent to us that this (the Big Eight) was the thing that we had to achieve, then obviously we were going to look to the people that could help make a difference,” Reynolds said. Among those Reynolds thanked was Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock, who attended Baylor law school. Reynolds said Bullock believed the demise of the SWC was inevitable and that Baylor should align itself with a conference of national importance. ‘Having known him a long time, he is usually a person who can be helpful, if he intends to be,’ Reynolds said. ‘He is a very loyal Baylor alumnus.'”

Baylor actively sought the Big 12, it was NOT just along for the ride. This type of inaccurate reporting, even in the op-ed section, should merit an immediate retraction.

There is a reason the Chronicle is struggling to stay afloat. Pissing off 300,000 UH grads in the city of Houston is a good start.

Who, besides you, Mr. Bad Info, thinks I am a Baylor grad? They are my Bears, and my Cougars, and my Aggies and my Longhorns and my Red Raiders, and so forth. Any school from the great country of Texas earns that from me. Sorry, you aren’t as loyal to Texas as yours truly. You’d probably really freak out about my days as a Black Panther, wouldn’t you? And no, that has nothing to do with your ridiculous claim of some sort of racial insensitivity. Pray tell me where my reference to rats an cockroaches had anything to do with 7-11s and robbing things or some other idiotic joke that hurt your poor little feelings? Jeez. I am sure if a Baylor Bear really thought he was a Bear, he’d be ticked off that I referred to him as a goldfish. But then again, the analogy is only a problem when you are looking to be hurt. Buck up, Mr. Sensitive. Oh wait, I’ve already called you Mr. Bad Info and don’t want you to turn an innocent wisecrack into something deep and painful that you might never get over. So I apologize for doubling down. I’ll just take half my bet back; don’t want to break the bank. … Baylor “forced out” UH, TCU, SMU and Rice? Did you not understand the headline or did the first couple of sentences confuse you? … On mo gin (no, that isn’t racist, that’s how I talk) for the slow to comprehend: when it was obvious that the family was moving, the goldfish started swimming frantically so it wouldn’t be left on the old dresser left out by the curb, or worse yet, flushed down the toilet. That is accurate. Period.

I do not think anyone at UH seriously ever blamed Baylor or Ken Starr in the breakup of the SWC. It was an Aggie/Longhorn deal and TT and BU had the political clout to tag along.
The early 90s were a dark time for UH athletically. No one is debating that either. It is history and UH, like TCU (but not to the proportion at this time), was able to survive and pull itself up from it’s dark days and get into the outer edge of the glow of a national spotlight.
Since the Maggard hire of Briles (who BU was able to negotiate away from UH during the season), the Coogs have turned it around. They have had 9 years of great QB play, winning records, bolw appearances and wins. We have had national ranking in season and beat #5 OSU, and more than hold our own against much better financed BCS teams from the Big XII, PAC 12, and SEC.
The bitter taste UH has is not that BU got the call for the 2nd Best COnference in the Land. It is that they had done LESS with MORE than any team in College Football. They garnered $15 million a year from the Big XII for a decade and a half producing a conference winning pecentage of below 15% prior to Briles arrival.
Then after living off of the Big XII welfare system for so long and having the likes of UT, aTm and OU fill Floyd Casey Stadium for them they cry foul when the BIG BOY of the Big XII tell them they must find their own way.
If we were in the same situation as BU, we would do the same, without a second thought.
But what has caused the nightmarish public relations issue among UH fans (and former SWC brethren) is how Ken Starr pleads that aTm, UT, TT should honor the tradition rich rivalries of the Texas Schools. How these long standing rivalries should be held aloft while such mundane interest such as money should not break this bond. I am sure that was not the same message Ken Starr (after his duties in dealing with the Clintons) was delivering to it’s oldest and dearest long-stonading rival TCU.
Hypocrisy, sure. Self-interest, sure. If UH was in the same situation would we beg like an orphan on the streets as well, you betcha’. But Starr should call it for what it is: a potential loss of $15 million dollars/year and a drop into the netherworld of non-AQ teams.
Will, BU survive realignment. Yes. Will then end up in an AQ conference. Perhaps. COuld their recent success be too little, too late? I don’t know. But advertising tickets on stubhub for $1 to $5 is not helping. And this after HUGE win against a Nationally Ranked Opponent.
Will UH make the jump to AQ. Hard to say. UH stock is rising. Baylor’s stock is rising. I would say that one team will make it and the other will not. And each school will continue to take delight in the other’s misery. Hey, it’s Texas and College Footbball.

Wow. Bunch of people are saying the King got his facts right… maybe. Baylor has never been very competitive with Texas or A&Ms judging by wins and losses.
Vs. The University: 22 Wins 73Loses 4 Ties
Vs. a&m: 31 Wins 66 Loses 9 Ties

Their oldest rival is TCU not a&m they played TCU beginning in 1899 along with an outfit called Toby’s Business (whom they played twice) and they also played a&m, but don’t forget that TCU & Baylor were located in the same town at that time, and no one, not even the school knows the dates of those games other than the year. They did not face a&m or TCU again until 1901, and until 1995 Baylor and TCU had the longest “continuously played” rivalry game in the nation.

So, they dumped their oldest rival which flies in the face of the laughable argument presented by Starr re: historic rivalries. Their board of directors was the first to vote to join what would become the Big XII. They also belittled those left behind by saying that they should find an appropriate association which also contradicts their argument of wanting to preserve historic TX rivalries. This is why everyone is ridiculing BU. They are being disingenuous. Call it what it is: desperation and a hunger for money. People might respect that, but the current argument is pure BS.

They did nothing to “deserve” entry into the Big XII. So, why would anyone cry for them getting thrown off of the golden teet?

Strange article talking about goldfish…as a Baylor alum, I say who cares…the big sports and super conferences are all going to come crashing down some day, about the same time as the U.S. dollar does along with our economy if we don’t solve the debt crisis in the next decade here in the U.S. Let’s pay these poor college players and call it what it is….Pro sports.

Koodos to you. Great article. The fact of the matter is “the other guys” feeling’s were hurt after the SWC dissolved and they still wont move on. You got screwed by Texas and Texas A&M. Get over it. Even if Baylor ends up with no options in the end, they still had a great run in the Big 12 (something that none of the other SWC universities who were left out can claim). However something tells me the Big 12 is either going to survive again, reform as a new conference with the remaining teams, or Baylor and Iowa will end up in the Big East.

As far as “Baylor sucking” just look at where they rank in football and pre-season men’s and women’s basketball. Also take a look at their football records prior to say 1990? No excuse for the 1990-2010, but you can either stay down or get back up. Kuddos to BU for rebuilding.

I will say Baylor did do one good thing for Houston. We took Coach Art Briles and RGIII off your hands. Someone with that leadership style and talent only belongs at BU…

I think all the Baylor fans should start going to football games. they have terrible home support and don’t travel anywhere to see their team play. You can go on stub hub right now and by tickets for a $1 to their next home game. What is their football record in the Big 12-2-1 and maybe minus 2 more?

I think that Baylor would have been better served to pursue membership in a Basketball conference with the Kansas schools. Baylors BB program has been good enough to make it attractive to those conferences. Threatening lawsuits and being perceived as childish will damage the perception of Baylor by those conferences.

Keep dreaming, Baylor owes what it is to the fact that it ended up in the Big 12 and when/if it falls apart don’t think you’ll end up in the Big East. You’ll end up in the same place with the Red Raiders and the other have-nots, on the outside looking in. That’s the reason you should be afraid. Start considering what your attendance will dwindle to when games against TU, A&M, and other Big 12 teams are no longer on the docket and people are looking at going to a Baylor v Rice game… And when you are no longer recruiting kids to play in a major conference let’s see how much the talent drops off. When reality slaps you it is going to hit really hard. Your only hope is to somehow keep the Big 12 around and rebuild that conference before it implodes.

You have some serious issues with a local Houston college. I don’t think you really know what happened when the SWC broke up. I really don’t like the fact that a Houston paper has a writer who shows such anger towards the local University. I’m sure there are some good reporting jobs in Waco. It’s nice to know where you went to school. It is so obvious that you have a deep seated jealousy for the cougars. You wouldn’t spend so much time hating on them. You must feel guilty or ashamed at what Baylor and Anne Richards did to U. of H.
You don’t deserve to be working in this market and your Baylor Bears will be out looking for a conference that doesn’t have a BCS or AQ assigned to it come next year. When Robert Griffin leaves the top 25 ranking will also.I only hope you follow. I never have liked what you had to say about our school and now it all makes sense.

It is obvious I have a deep seated jealousy toward the Cougars? Are you nuts? Are you on medication? Is it working? Sorry to ruin your theory, but I DID NOT attend Baylor. And unlike so many of you whose entire identity is tied to some university, the most important time in my personal development was probably the three years I spent as a Black Panther.

The article I posted states that UH will not be receiving an invite to the Big 12 because other Texas schools would have to be considered. According to Katz, political pressure from other institutions makes UH unattractive to the Big 12. So there’s that: UH must make the best of its current situation and forget about the past. Yes, it would great if the Big 12 stayed together, but as a UH fan, I cannot bring myself to care that much now. We will not get an invite. I won’t start blaming the Texas schools, because after reading that article, it seems more like out-of-state schools don’t want a Texas centric conference. I am asking all Coog fans to keep it classy. We will be alright. Let these other people argue about who did this and who did that. UH will have a new stadium, we’ll fix Hofheinz, and we will be ok. Our basketball team just picked up two top 100 recruits, so come out and support the team. Whose house? COOGS HOUSE!

You know why you pick on UH, Solomon and that’s because you get clicks out of it because you know someone will post the link on a certain website (which we know you read) and they’ll click on it to come defend UH. I’m not bashing you for it, I actually get your humor. You know that people are oversensitive and you occasionally like to poke them.

I don’t understand all the Baylor talk. The are not going to stop Texas A&M from going to the SEC. All the smack talk coming from Bear fans will all come back right in their face as soon as A&M announces. Baylor needs to just realize that when you don’t support your own team at home, don’t travel to other venues, win lesd than 20% of your conference games over a 15 year period that other leauges are simply not going to be interested. Do you think for one second that if Baylor had a legit offer to move on to another AQ conference that any of this would be happening? The problem is they dont, so they want to try and hold everybody else back in a conference that is in shambles and grows weaker by the day. Baylor should try start showing up to their games and winning every once in a while so maybe next time there is a shuffle maybe they can be included. They should feel lucky to have collected the cash they have during their embarrassing time in the Big 12.

Dear King Solomon,
My question is why the parents allowed the children to keep the sickly goldfish and bring him to the Big 12 in the first place? Perhaps it was meant for a lesson in mortality? Because the goldfish struggled and struggled to keep his belly pointing to the bowl’s bottom and has a 15-90 record against the remaining members of the conference to show for it.
It is sad to watch something flounder in desperation. The parents (of whom I really am not sure who they are in your analogy) should have told the children about a wonderful, magical fish tank they sent Baylor to one night while they were tucked away in bed sleeping: a place where they could swim and be happy with fish just like them. Instead of cutting the cord than and sending them on their way to the WAC, there has been created an old, grumpy, undersized bear who is in fact overshadowed by one of the rats they strong armed out of the Big 12 – TCU.
There’s a reason Old Yeller didn’t make it in that movie, because that dog was going to get nasty as time dragged on. The fact of the matter is that Baylor did not belong in the Big 12 to begin with, but since they were, they have been given a justifiable heir of entitlement. I do not blame them for clutching to the Big 12 like a raft in the ocean, because so would everybody else. It takes time to bounce back like TCU has and SMU is somewhat on the verge of. I blame the parent for not sitting down the Little-11 and explaining that, “When a man and a woman love each other very much-“ whoops, wrong conversation, “Sometimes you just have to say goodbye to old friends. You’ll go on and make new ones and not miss them any more after a while.”
The real question is, “What did the backdoor money exchange look like that kept our friendly Baptist neighbors around to make this the mess that it has become?”

Seriously? You don’t understand the reasoning behind it? Aggie is gone and the entire Big 12 membership knows this. The hold up causes a tapping of the brakes on this crazy and out of control realignment so the remaining teams can figure out what they are going to do. This was set off by OU’s announcement before the SEC vote. Until that point, all remaining members of the conference were united to find a replacement for A&M. Once OU made that announcement the frenzy started. The timing of the announcement was also curious as OU could have just waited till after A&M left to state their desires. But the popular notion is that OU did it for leverage in negotiations within and out of the conference.

There is a reason there is a pause and everyone is waiting to see what OU is going to do. But while they are waiting, they are also on the phones trying to find out what is going to happen with their own institutions. It’s a stall tactic that Aggie obviously does not get. Trust me the conference wanted them out just as much as they wanted to leave. But as usual Aggie is oblivious to what is going on.

Us P12 fans are somewhat entertained and somewhat in shock at all of the infighting going on over in your state.

We also find all of the finger pointing rather funny, but a bit sad.

Solomon writes a piece with facts, none of which can be disputed. There is also a lot of opinion in it, which is expected.

What is funny is everyone posting here disputing the facts…and apparently there are a lot of people who still cannot grasp the concepts that he wrote in his article. Go read it another 2-3 times before posting anything other than “Oh yeah, I guess Baylor isn’t the problem here.”

dude you’re an idiot. baylor didnt take the last seat on the bus, it was given the last seat by that old bag anne richards. she forced the big 8 to accept baylor over many more deserving schools. baylors last ditch effort to continue leeching millions they dont deserve will backfire in their face. what conference will want them after this pathetic ploy. say hello to the sun belt losers

[…] Conference crumbled back in the mid ’90s; Houston Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon explained the errors with that argument last week. Others have called Baylor naive for caring about what’s best for all involved, […]

I’m 65 years old and have been reading newspapers since I was about eight. This is the most ignorant, ill-informed sports column I have read in all these years. The writer’s conclusions are wrong because his facts are incorrect. Is this deliberate misdirection by Solomon? Does it reflect a deep-seated anti-UH bias? I hope not. Giving him the benefit of a doubt, I can only conclude that Jerome must not be from around these parts or else he was holding the newspaper upside down when he was reading about these events.

I love it when people claim facts are incorrect without pointing out any incorrect facts. Nice try pal. Reading the newspaper for 57 years doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about. Of course, since you didn’t make a point, I don’t know what points you are disputing. And there is nothing in there that reflects a deep-seated anti-UH bias, because I don’t have one.